Stocking with special toe construction



A ril14, 1964 A. G. LANGENFELD ETAL 3,128,763

STOCKING WITH SPECIAL TOE CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 2,1963 TORS ANDREW G. LANGENFELD BY INVEN VICTOR PARE April 1 1964 A. G.LANGENFELD ETAL 3,128,763

STOCKING WITH SPECIAL TOE CONSTRUCTION Filed April 2, 1963 2Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TORS VICTOR PARE ANDREW G. LANGENFELD UnitedStates Patent Ofifice 3,128,763 Patented Apr. 14., 1964 3,128,763STOCTGNG WITH SPECIAL TOE CGNSTRUCTTGN Andrew G. Langenfeld, 609 W.151st St, New York, N.Y., and Victor Pare, New York, Nil. (HomesteadDrive, Lake Carmel, N.Y.)

Filed Apr. 2, 1953, Ser. No. 269,987 8 Claims. ci. 128-153) Thisinvention concerns an improved sock or stocking construction.

A number of foot ills and discomforts such as corns, chafing,irritation, excessive perspiration, fungus growth and distortion of thetoes and feet, are caused by direct contact and rubbing between the skinof adjacent toes. The conventional sock or stocking has no provision forseparating the toes of a foot from one another, and on the contrary,maintains the toes in close contact with each other.

The present invention has as its primary object provision of a footgarment such as a sock or stocking in which individual stalls areprovided for enclosing each of the toes of a foot, for absorbingperspiration, prevention of chafing, etc.

A further object is to provide a foot garment of the characterdescribed, in which there is associated with each stall, a holder for apad permitting application of medication to points between the toes oraround the toes.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying of this disclosure:

FIG. '1 is an oblique side view of part of a sock or stocking embodyingthe invention.

drawings forming a material part FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the toeend of the sockof FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the toe end of another sock embodying theinvention.

FIG. 5 is a front end view the sock of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a sectional View on a further enlarged scale taken on line -66of FIG. 5, with a pad shown inserted therein.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary top plan view similar to a part of FIG. 4showing pad holders displaced for receiving pads between the stalls.

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of the toe end of another sock embodyinganother form of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on line 10-141 ofFIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view on a further enlarged scale taken online l1111 of FIG. 10.

Referring first to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown a foot garment 10 which maybe made of cotton, wool, nylon, stretch material or other suitableporous fabric. The foot garment may be a sock or stocking having anankle and leg portion 12 of any desired length. At the toe end 14 of thegarment are five pockets or stalls P1P5 formed integrally with theremainder of the garment. The stalls have different lengths anddiameters for receiving and enclosing the several toes of a footcomfortably and snugly. Stall P1 encloses the smallest toe while stallP5 encloses the largest toe.

The garment is placed on the foot in conventional manon an enlargedscale of taken on line 7-7 of ner, but the toes are individually fittedinto the stalls. The web portions 16 at the base ends of the stallswhere they join the toe end of the garment snugly abut the skin betweenthe toes of the wearer. These web portions absorb perspiration and keepthe skin clean and dry, thus preventing growth of fungus, commonly knownas athletes loot. When socks or stockings having the described andillustrated construction are worn, the wearer will feel less footfatigue over extended periods of time. The double layers W of clothbetween the toes effectively prevent skin of one toe from chafingagainst skin of another in walking, as now occurs in conventional socksand stockings.

In FIGS. 4-8 is shown another foot garment 1% which is similar inconstruction to foot garment 1t) and corresponding parts are identicallynumbered. To the foot garment 10 are applied looped smooth, plasticbands 13. These bands are fitted between the abutting walls W of thestalls. Bight portions L abut the web portions 16. The bands haveinterconnecting cross bands 20 secured to the tops of the stalls P1P5 bystitching 22. The bands 18 define loops between the stalls and can bepulled outwardly as shown in FIG. 8 to permit suitable pads, which aremedicated or not, to be inserted between the stalls.

In FIG. 6, a fibrous pad 2 adjacent walls W of stalls P1, P2 and at theweb portion 16'. The band :18 holds the pad in place. A pad can beinserted between each pair of stalls or only between a single pair ofstalls. If the pads are omitted, the bands 18 remain in place andsupplement the anti-chafing construction of the individual stalls. Thebands 24) may be integrally formed with the bands 18 and are preferablymade of waterproof, tough sheet plastic material such as polyethylene,vinyl or the like.

In FIGS. 911 the foot garment 10 is similar in construction to footgarment 10 and corresponding parts are identically numbered. Around eachof stalls Pl-PS is secured a tubular strip or band 25 made of waterproofsheet plastic material. The strips are disposed around an intermediateportion of each stall between the Web portions 16 and the free ends ofthe stalls. Stitching 26' is provided only at the forward end of eachband and serves to hold tubular pads 3&1 inside the bands as shown inFIG. 11. The bands are open rearwardly all around the stalls.

The bands 25 preferably have some elasticity so that they will stretchas indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 10 to receive pads of differentthicknesses. The bands 25 serve as anti-chafing members when not holdingpads 30-.

The foot garments 19 and 16 enable the application of medication eitheraround the toes of a foot for treating corns, bu-nions and the like, orfor application of medication to the web portions of a foot between thetoes \for treating fungus conditions. The medicated pads are readilyremoved from their plastic holders, which can be washed, or can be wipedclean with a damp cloth. The medicated pads can be replaced without thenecessity of removing the garment from the foot of the wearer, since thebeneficial application of medication occurs through the porous fabric ofthe stalls and web portions of the garment. If desired, the pad holdingstrips and bands can be made of porous cloth material, but non-porousplastic material is preferred, since they will prevent liquid medicationfrom seeping into the shoes and into adjacent stalls.

The multiple stall construction of the foot garment increases footcomfort and sanitation. Shoes will remain cleaner and drier internallyand substantially free of odors. The invention may be applied to socksand stockings for men, women and children.

is shown inserted between While we have illustrated and described thepreferred embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that wedo not limit ourselves to the precise constructions herein disclosed andthat various changes and modifications may be made within the scope ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent l. A foot garment having atubular cloth body for fitting on a human foot, said body having anintegral toe end with five tubular stalls for receiving individual toesof the foot, said stalls having different lengths and diameters, eachstall having a closed free end, each stall being joined at its base endto the toe end of said body with a web between each pair of adjacentstalls, and holders for pads between adjacent walls of adjacent stalls,each of the holders being a band arranged in the form of a loop withsides abutting adjacent walls of adjacent stalls and with a bightabutting the web between the adjacent stalls.

2. A foot garment having a tubular cloth body for fitting on a humanfoot, said body having an integral toe end with five tubular stalls forreceiving individual toes of the foot, said stalls having differentlengths and diameters, each stall having a closed free end, each stallbeing joined at its base end to the toe end of said body with a webbetween each pair of adjacent stalls, and holders for pads betweenadjacent walls of adjacent stalls, each of the holders being a bandarranged in the form of a loop with sides abutting adjacent walls ofadjacent stalls and with a bight abutting the web between the adjacentstalls, each of said holders being formed of Waterproof fiexible, sheetplastic material.

3. A foot garment having a tubular cloth body for fitting on a humanfoot, said body having an integral toe end with five tubular stalls forreceiving individual toes of the foot, said stalls having differentlengths and diameters, each stall having a closed free end, each stallbeing joined at its base end to the toe end of said body with a webbetween each pair of adjacent stalls, and holders for pads betweenadjacent walls of adjacent stalls, each of the holders being a tubularband encircling one of the stalls.

4. A foot garment having a tubular cloth body for fitting on a humanfoot, said body having an integral toe end with five tubular stalls forreceiving individual toes of the foot, said stalls having differentlengths and diameters, each stall having a closed free end, each stallbeing joined at its base end to the toe end of said body with a webbetween each pair of adjacent stalls, and holders for pads betweenadjacent Walls of adjacent stalls, each of the holders being a tubularband encircling one of the stalls, each of the holders being formed ofwaterproof flexible sheet plastic material.

5. A foot garment having a tubular cloth body for fitting on a humanfoot, said body having an integral toe end with five tubular stalls forreceiving individual toes of the foot, said stalls having differentlengths and diameters, each stall having a closed free end, each stallbeing joined at its base end to the toe end of said body with a webbetween each pair of adjacent walls, holders for pads between adjacentwalls of adjacent stalls, each of the holders being a tubular bandencircling one of the 5 stalls, each of the holders being formed ofwaterproof flexible sheet plastic material, and stitching at a forwardend of each band securing the band to one of the stalls.

6. A foot garment having a tubular cloth body for fitting on a humanfoot, said body having an integral toe end with five tubular stalls forreceiving individual toes of the foot, said stalls having difierentlengths and diameters, each stall having a closed free end, each stallbeing joined at its base end to the toe end of said body with a webbetween each pair of adjacent stalls, a plurality of tubular bands, eachof said bands being formed of waterproof plastic material and encirclingone of the stalls, each of the bands being secured at only one end tothe one stall and free from the one stall at its other end, and aresilient, porous pad inserted inside the hand between the band and theone stall.

7. A foot garment having a tubular cloth body for fitting on a humanfoot, said body having an integral toe end with five tubular stalls forreceiving individual toes of the foot, said stalls having differentlengths and diameters, each stall having a closed free end, each stallbeing joined at its base end to the toe end of said body with a webbetween each pair of adjacent stalls, a plurality of bands formed intoloops, each of the bands being inserted between adjacent walls of twoadjacent stalls with sides of the band abutting said adjacent wallsrespectively and with the bight of the loop abutting the web between theadjacent stalls, and a resilient, porous pad inserted between the bightof at least one of the bands and the abutting web, each of the bandshaving ends of said sides secured to the adjacent walls of the adjacentstalls to retain the band in place between the stalls.

8. A foot garment having a tubular cloth body for fitting on a humanfoot, said body having an integral toe end with five tubular stalls forreceiving individual toes of the foot, said stalls having differentlengths and diameters, each stall having a closed free end, each stallbeing joined at its base end to the toe end of said body with a webbetween each pair of adjacent stalls, a plurality of bands formed intoloops, each of the bands being inserted between adjacent walls of twoadjacent stalls with sides of the band abutting said adjacent wallsrespec' tively and with the bight of the loop abutting the web betweenthe adjacent stalls, and a resilient, porous pad inserted between thebight of at least one of the bands and the abutting web, each of thebands having ends of said sides secured to the adjacent walls of theadjacent stalls to retain the band in place between the stalls, each ofsaid bands being formed of waterproof, plastic sheet material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,335,665 Goldmerstein Nov. 30, 1943 2,655,917 KiWad Oct. 20, 19532,868,197 Murray Jan. 13, 1959

1. A FOOT GARMENT HAVING A TUBULAR CLOTH BODY FOR FITTING ON A HUMANFOOT, SAID BODY HAVING AN INTEGRAL TOE END WITH FIVE TUBULAR STALLS FORRECEIVING INDIVIDUAL TOES OF FOOT, SAID STALLS HAVING DIFFERENT LENGTHSAND DIAMETERS, EACH STALL HAVING A CLOSED FREE END, EACH STALL BEINGJOINED AT ITS BASE END TO THE TOE END OF SAID BODY WITH A WEB BETWEENEACH PAIR OF ADJACENT STALLS, AND HOLDERS FOR PADS BETWEEN ADJACENTWALLS OF ADJACENT STALLS, EACH OF THE HOLDERS BEING A BAND ARRANGED INTHE FORM OF A LOOP WITH SIDES ABUTTING ADJACENT WALLS OF ADJACENT STALLSAND WITH A BIGHT ABUTTING THE WEB BETWEEN THE ADJACENT STALLS.